Tree planting may seem a time-honored tradition as soon as the weather warms each spring, but according to Jeff Vancil, by doing so on Earth Day, the trees are blessed at the very beginning.

The owner of the Bushnell-based Hart's Nursery had a small landscaping crew that could be spotted Monday afternoon digging up dirt and planting roots along East Jackson Street in the parking lot of Farm King. They'd actually meant to do it earlier this season, but cold weather and rain prolonged the process.

Most of the time, Vancil said, planting trees is about improving an environment's aesthetics — making sure a view is blocked or framed pleasingly — but on Monday, the work meant something more.

"It's one time we kind of make the public think a little bit about the benefits of trees," he said. "In our line of work, it's something we think about all the time because it's what we do."

Across town Monday afternoon at Western Illinois University's Horn Field Campus, a group of Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration students had already cleared a patch of forest of an invasive species and was rapidly digging a series of holes to plant trees.

Their activity fell just coincidentally on Earth Day, as well. Assistant Professor Rob Porter said students had planted likely 600 small trees in 45 minutes — plotting holes with what he called a tree bar.

"One person comes along and they dig a hole about eight inches deep. Somebody puts a tree in to what we call a root collar, so just to the edge of the roots. The last person comes behind and closes that hole," he said. "We're planting them every two feet throughout the forest. We expect maybe 40 percent of those to survive. So that's why we're over planting."

Porter said the main concern was deer going near the new trees, so students had planted them in thorny areas or along logs. Tree species planted included white and red oak, black walnut, pecan, and shagbark, mockernut and butternut hickory.